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[darkov]

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latest status update 3/6/2018

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[darkov]

[smart, huh. it seems to vary depending on who Martin talks to, but he’s much more inclined to believe Archie — hiding is the path of least resistance after all.

after one last glance out the front window, he heads into the kitchen, sliding into a chair while Archie unloads stuff. he puts his newly gotten donut down beside him.]

That was kind of you...

[h2no]

Pssh. It ain't nothin'. I get free donuts and coffee from some places now... benefits of being sorta-famous.

[he gets a plate out for marty, then puts a kettle on the stove, just using the kitchen like he owns the place. strolling back over, archie pulls some books out his backpack; they're large books meant for kids, but he figured starting small would be easier and most adult books assume you know a language already.]

Uh... sorry if some of these seem condescending. I didn't mean them to be, language learnin' here is just... weird. [he takes out a pad of blank paper and some pens, too.] You can eat first. Don't worry. Want a drink?

[darkov]

[he shakes his head, eyes on the books. everything in this world sure is big and colorful...]

No, thank you. I’m not thirsty. [but once that donut gets consumed, he’ll be singing a different tune.]

Are all books like this? [he picks at the soft cover of one, retracting his hand when he realizes he’s being nosy.] I mean— soft like that. Without hide covers.

[h2no]

Alright.

[he makes his own coffee then plops down at the table, sitting next to martin.]

There's a variety of 'em. You can find books with hide covers, but they're pretty expensive, most of them. Most of the time they're soft like this, or hard but made of the same material.

[he nudges the book towards martin.] You can have a look in it if you want. You can keep 'em, I got them for you.

[darkov]

Really-? [he looks up, eyes big. really?] I’m...I’m keeping them? Do I...do you have to do anything special to take care of them? Put them underground?

[h2no]

[if this was literally anyone else, he'd think they were taking the piss. it's martin, though, so he realises that he's probably being genuine.]

No, nothing at all. Just don't get it wet, or the pages will fall apart. Other than that... that's all there is to it.

[he shrugs.]

An' I mean, even if something does happen to them, I can just replace them. There's literally a never-ending supply of them.

[darkov]

[with permission, Martin slides one of the books toward himself, opening it up to a random page. childish, sure, but Martin has limited exposure to colorful illustrations — even less, considering how little he’s let himself pay attention to much outside of the house. it’s weirdly exciting...and nerve wracking? like he’s touching something he’s not allowed to.]

...At the compound, there’s a cellar all the books and papers are. E-except whatever the overseer has in his room, I guess. But they’re all down there...the pages aren’t this soft. Or...or the letters big like this.

[h2no]

[he watches this, feeling the same way he usually does with martin; unsure.]

They're probably made differently... books do usually have places to be, like libraries. It sounds like that's a mini-library, so you weren't wrong about thinking it goes underground.

[archie cocks his head, taking a big gulp of coffee.]

The letters are big to help you see it properly and concentrate on that specific letter. Maybe I'm starting you off too basic, but I figured that havin' something with all the letters in it and examples on the page might help for when you're practicing on your own. The other stuff I brought focuses more on entire words, so you can move around 'em as you see fit. I'm sure you'll learn fast, anyway.

[darkov]

[he makes a soft, distracted sound. read and listen? at the same time? not in this Darkov’s repertoire. he glides his fingers across the pages, still impressed by the texture, but more interested in the pictures. corresponding shapes and pictures of animals relating to the letters — letters he can trace with a finger, pictures to stare at and wonder.]

What is this-? All... [alligator. but it looks like a monster in green.]

[h2no]

Alligator, [he clarifies, leaning over to look over.] It's a type of reptile that lives in rivers. They're pretty dangerous, but there's none around here. Not in the cities.

[he kind of doesn't expect marty to be in a position where he's near one any time soon, at least. though that fucking spear he can summon would help...

archie mentally shakes himself, knowing he's getting distracted.]

You can split words up into separate parts called syllables to make them easier to spell and say. [he points to the word as he says it.] All-i-ga-tor.

[darkov]

[Martin’s own finger follows along with Archie’s enunciation, but drifts back to the ga.

he frowns.]

But...I thought that was ah, not eh...it’s—it’s written with ah. Allee-gah... [he withdraws his hand, his face going red. it’s humiliating to not know — showing off his stupidity.]

[h2no]

[archie pats his shoulder lightly for a moment.]

See that? You're not wrong. It's good you noticed that, actually. Sometimes things aren't always spelled how they sound. I ain't gonna start you on all that yet-- I think it'd be best not to overwhelm you. Just focus on how the A at the start of the word looks, yeah?

[he leans over to grab a notepad and pen, holding them out to martin.]

Think you could copy it a few times? Just get used to writing it.

[darkov]

[Martin mumbles a sound, somewhat mollified that at least he wasn't wrong to think what he did. but the prospect of things not always sounding the way they're written is...well. not great. he's sure Adam complained of it before, but Martin never really understood it.

he doesn't question changing gears and accepts pen and paper, smoothing the surface out before starting to scrawl letters. he does this in a dedicated silence, as much to not screw up as it is to not be lazy and waste everyone's time.

still, though... the longer this goes on, the more his attention wavers and questions nag at him, up until he's finished a second row and stopped, staring at the book with a frown.]

...Are those really real things? [he sounds a little incredulous.] The pictures. Not--not the apples, I know those. I mean those animals.

[h2no]

[archie watches him write, not interrupting the silence, figuring marin prefers it or needs it to concentrate. he sips his coffee idly, watching the paper fill up.]

You can stop there-- uh. Yeah. [he says with a shrug.] They tend to live in swampy areas and even then are pretty rare. Have you seen them before?

[darkov]

...

[Martin thinks about it for a minute, then pulls the page he was writing on out. he sets it over top the book, pressing it until he can faintly see the illustration below. from there, he starts to trace the shape. when he has the gist of it down, he stops again, thinking.]

Except...like this... [he drags the pen down, making the legs longer.] And the face like... [he scratches out lines jutting out of the alligator jaws in all different ways. and after another pause, he scribbles out some of the feet he'd elongated on the back.] These are shorter. And that's not there... [he crosses out the tail, too.

he lifts his pen, sitting up and considering it for a second more.]

Uh. Sometimes there's...another face. But not always.

[h2no]

[he watches the image of this... thing come together with interest. it's not a great drawing, but he gets the general gist of it. fortunately, crazy looking animals aren't exactly foreign to archie, nor are two-headed ones.]

Are they common? [...he hopes not.]

[darkov]

Sometimes.

[his eyes haven't left the page as he ponders on it. then, he scratches out a shape near it -- just a scribbly, black blotch.]

They'll come out of the ground or the water...and if there's animals or bones nearby...they build up from there. So sometimes it's like that one, or sometimes it's smaller. Or bigger. It just depends on what's already there to take.

[h2no]

The ones here come out the water, but not the ground.

[he frowns, still looking at the page.]

You can tear it out if you don't like looking at it.

[darkov]

No, it's...it's fine. [familiar, even. just in a weird way.] It's just...odd. Odd that there's...things here that resemble home, but not really. Monsters.

[he moves away from his doodle, going back to scribbling out alligator.]

[h2no]

There are a lot of animals here that are similar to the ones back home for me, too.

[he shrugs.]

If you don't want any of them in the book, you can just tear the page out. I won't be upset or anythin'.

[darkov]

[alligator, alligator, alligator. alligator alligator alligator alligator alligator alligator alli]

...

[gator...

Martin stops mid-gator, peering over at Archie.]

...Um. So, um... How many times...do I need to do this?

[h2no]

Ah-- that's enough. I wanted to show you something, actually.

[he puts one finger under the a at the start of the word, and another under the one in the middle.]

These are both the same letter. D'you know why they look different?

[darkov]

[at Archie's direction, he looks back down, staring for a few seconds.

same letter, different shapes.

he...wait. he already knew that part. he frowns. but why?]

Um.

[...oh. right--] Be...because the letter at the front is always different. It's special.

[right? he thinks so. that seems right; he glances back at Archie to confirm.]

[h2no]

[archie beams at the reply.]

Yep! That's right! It's called a capital letter. They're at the start of sentences and for names of people or places.

[darkov]

[wait...he.

he got it right? first try? no hints?

wow. huh.

a little pink, Martin nods, looking back down.]

My...er, one of my cousins...he taught me that. He's really smart. He reads.